


begging for footnotes in the story of your life

by comfortcharacters



Series: evermore collection [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, M/M, Metaverse (Persona 5)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28044594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comfortcharacters/pseuds/comfortcharacters
Summary: Yusuke watches the person he loves slowly but surely fall in love with someone else.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: evermore collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053434
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	begging for footnotes in the story of your life

**Author's Note:**

> this is based off of taylor swift's "tolerate it"

There was something a bit magical about Akira, Yusuke thought. Maybe that’s just a natural reaction after someone saves you from a life of manipulation and destitution, but Yusuke felt oddly drawn to Akira. He wasn’t alone, and he knew that; he saw the way that Ann and Ryuji looked at Akira, endless fondness in their eyes, but he felt like his own feelings ran deeper than either of theirs. Just a few days after he first met Akira, he was under his spell. He knew he’d walk to the ends of Earth just to see Akira smile at him, but not with Joker’s smirk or the passive glance he uses with all his confidants. He wanted Akira’s real smile, the one that would tell him that he wasn’t delusional. He wanted to know if Akira could feel it, too.

This ordinary boy, honestly quite forgettable at first glance, managed to turn his life upside down with a single encounter. And Yusuke couldn’t find it in himself to be the slightest bit concerned about it. 

Yusuke didn’t know if it was the thrill of confronting his old mentor and letting out the rage he’d let fester inside, the electric charge of a completed mission, or the quiet intimacy of visiting a new friend’s room for the first time. He didn’t know if it was normal to feel like his skin was on fire when Akira accidentally brushed against him in the most innocent ways. But when Akira leaned over the edge of his makeshift bed to give Yusuke a soft, tentative smile, so different from the self-assured smirk that he wore in the Metaverse, Yusuke’s heart clenched against his better judgment. And when Yusuke abandoned any semblance of rational thought and leaned over to tentatively press a kiss to Akira’s lips, his world exploded into colors artists could only dream of. 

He knew he was in danger, even then.

Their intimacy was soft and simple. Yusuke gladly traveled down from student housing at every opportunity, sneaking around the other Phantom Thieves to spend free nights in the bathhouse followed by video game marathons in Akira’s attic. He’d bring his art supplies and find socially-acceptable excuses to stare at Akira for hours at a time, sketching and painting him to life in the brightest colors. Akira laughed and blushed and smiled at all of Yusuke’s passionate declarations of love, swatting him away good naturedly when Yusuke went too far on his poetic tangents. 

Yusuke learned to read between the lines. He could tell Akira’s happy, contented silences from his contemplative ones, could tell when the Metaverse grew to be too much and when he was itching for another battle. After a few, short weeks of friendship, Yusuke already knew Akira well enough to know when things were about to take a turn for the worse.

He felt something change in the air in June. 

Yusuke was never a fan of the artificial brightness of a TV station, so part of him was delighted that he could avoid the trip that all the Shujin students went on. Yet part of him wishes he got the chance to meet this boy that riled up Ryuji so intensely, with a superiority complex that only his Akira could confront head-on. As they recounted the stories of their strange encounter and assessed the damages of Akechi’s comments on national television, Yusuke tried not to notice the determined glint in Akira’s eyes when he spoke about Akechi. As they went home to spend the night together for what would become the first and last time, Akira’s words to Yusuke alone echoed in his mind.

_I have to become friends with him. For information. It’s our only chance._

Yusuke still chased after that vision, those feelings from their first kiss, but nothing in real life could compare. He knew that better than anyone. He had fallen too hard and too fast, eyes trailing after Akira as he passed him by in the Shibuya station, forgetting to spare him a second look. 

All too often, Akira wasn’t alone.

Akira hung out with Akechi for surveillance reasons, but Yusuke had never seen surveillance leave a glowing blush on someone’s cheeks before. Akira’s eyes sparkled as he talked about his days with Akechi, going to every noteworthy place in Kichijoji together and spending more money than Yusuke could begin to think about. The long nights that Akira and Yusuke used to spend together turned into clipped conversations over text, with Akira swearing he was too busy to hang out. 

Yusuke tried to reach across the chasm and came to LeBlanc with a rose in hand, hoping to surprise Akira after weeks of distance. He paused and looked through the fogged-up window, only to find Akechi and Akira staring at each other from across the kitchen counter, barely breathing. He had to numb the stabbing in his chest when he watched Akira lean almost imperceptibly closer.

He walked away before he could see the end.

**Author's Note:**

> since writing these at chaotic hours has become a habit, I've decided to turn this into a multi-fandom series. I'll be writing a fic for each song off of "evermore" and I'm very excited about it!


End file.
